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How politeness levels change word choices in texts

Your Essential Guide to Texting in Japanese: Mastering Informal Communication and Abbreviations: How politeness levels change word choices in texts
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Politeness levels influence word choices in texts by shaping the linguistic strategies speakers or writers use to show respect, consider social hierarchies, reduce potential conflict, and maintain social harmony. Higher politeness levels often lead to more indirect, abstract, or elaborate language forms, while lower politeness levels use more direct and concrete expressions.

Linguistic Strategies Reflecting Politeness Levels

  • Politeness involves strategies such as indirectness, use of honorifics, softened requests, and formal tone to show deference and respect to the interlocutor’s “face” or social image. For example, using modal verbs (“Could you…”), apologetic phrases (“I’m sorry to bother you”), and question forms rather than commands are common in polite language. 1, 2
  • Positive politeness emphasizes solidarity and closeness, often using inclusive language and nicknames, whereas negative politeness employs more formal, deferential, and indirect forms to avoid imposing on the hearer. 1

Word Choice and Abstractness

  • Research shows that more polite expressions tend to use more abstract and less concrete verbs, reflecting a higher level of linguistic construal. Less polite statements tend to use more direct, concrete verbs. For example, abstract verbs and elevated language indicate higher politeness, whereas concrete verb usage correlates with lower politeness. 3

Cultural and Social Context

  • Politeness and word choice vary widely with cultural norms, social distance, the relationship between speaker and hearer, and the context of communication. Some cultures rely heavily on indirect expressions and elaborate politeness formulas, while others prefer more direct politeness markers such as “please” and “thank you”. 2, 1
  • The use of politeness signals social status and hierarchy; increased politeness often signals respect from a lower-status to a higher-status individual, impacting word choice accordingly. 2

Examples of Polite vs. Direct Word Choices

Direct RequestPolite Request
”Close the door.""Could you close the door for me, please?”

Politeness changes word choice by enriching language with mitigating expressions, indirectness, modal verbs, respectful terms, and abstract verbs, thus facilitating smoother and socially sensitive communication. 3, 1, 2

References

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